So far I have watched a few of the episodes and in contrast, have seen a lot of reviews on it for its opening day on Netflix. To be honest I was taken aback by them. I have seen a lot of people giving it flack for being bland, rushed, boring, and with no interactions, and very much for the acting...
Well here are my thoughts. I think that if you're going into this show as a nitpicker, or as an OG fan. It probably didn't turn out like what you expected, which as an OG fan myself I can understand to a degree however, I for one don't think of these flaws as horrible as critics and some may say. To get the main strong point that everyone agrees with out of the way, yes I loved the CGI, the CGI bending is brilliantly portrayed and done to the right degree to the original show. Going forward, however, is where I have noticed a few differences of opinion. I for one think the characters and their acting are on point. I will admit it's 100% better than the movie yet not even close to where the original show is. However, It's still well done and on key. The actors do try to portray their characters in a good light key ones to point out are Sokka, Iroh, and Aang. I especially like the direction of Sokka and Aang's character development. However, for a select few, where it could've been done better, characters like Zhao and Azula did feel a little underwhelming its not to say they were the worst thing possible, just that they could do better.
The locations are represented very well, you could honestly mistake them for being real locations in the world. They felt very life-like and on point with the original show's locations. The creatures are very nicely well done, you could tell the creators wanted to do their absolute best to capture each creature in the world of TLA and I can say without a doubt they succeeded. Now the biggest point I see complaints with is the story. Some have said it's bland others rushed... Me I think it's the best it could be done. people need to remember while the show had a high budget Netflix did hit it with some restrictions, one being an episode limit. There is only so much you can do with so few episodes which is why some aspects were cut out. So it was obvious not everything was going to fit, but the creators also wanted to try new things as they explained in their analysis of their trailer on IGN's channel. And for what it's worth, I like the changes, they flow very well if you choose to look at this show as something new rather than trying to desperately compare it to the original. It hits pretty well and touches what I think were the right key moments in book 1 however I will be fair and say it can be a little clunky at times and could have had a little better flow if Netflix had given them a little more lenience.
At the end of the day, I think that this show while not perfect does an absolutely good job and while I may give it 5 stars if I could I would say a 4.5 out of 5. I will say without a doubt there's room to improve and plenty of it. Nothing is perfect but things get better especially if you give them a chance and have an open mind. But hey I'm just another person writing a review so what do I know heh :3